Job Roles: Community Mushroom Farmer/COOP Member

Location: Lauriston Farm in North West Edinburgh. 

Salary: £27,975 per annum, pro rata (Actual salary: £22,380 for 4 days per week) each to start, with the potential to increase. All members of staff are paid the same hourly rate, and the minimum hourly rate will increase in line with the Real Living Wage. 

Hours and work pattern: 32  hours a week for each farmer.  Very occasional evening/weekend work, that can be offset by TOIL. 

Contract length: Permanent positions, with 6 months probation. 

Closing date for applications: 11:59pm Monday, July 13th. 

Interview date: 20th/21st of July 

Start Date:   ASAP, preferably no later than the 7th of September. 

Valid driving  licence and indefinite right to work in the UK  is essential. Unfortunately, we are unable to sponsor worker visas. 

If you have any questions and/or would like to arrange a time to chat about the role please email Lauren at lauren@rhyzemushrooms.org

About Rhyze: 

Rhyze was founded in 2020 by a group of activists. We are a worker’s cooperative and together  we run a community farm where we work with decomposing fungi and worms to help build a food system that repurposes waste, improves soil health, and strengthens community resilience. 

With help from our volunteers we grow mushrooms on local business waste, use worm based composting to produce a nutrient rich soil amendment, and provide community for people who face barriers to social inclusion, particularly folk who are neurodivergent and/or LGBTQ+. Our farm is a place for shared learning and innovation.  In addition to our volunteer sessions we facilitate a variety of workshops, carry out research projects, training programmes and host open days. 

The Roles: 

We have spent the last year building our second mushroom farm, an innovative low-impact poly tunnel system with the capacity to grow 100+ kg of Oyster mushrooms/week. We have infrastructure and distribution pathways in place to dramatically increase the income that we make from growing and selling mushrooms. 

We are seeking two new staff members who are committed to climate and food justice, and who are keen to pursue a career in community food production.

As community mushroom farmers, you will work together along with staff and volunteers to manage our Oyster mushroom production and distribution. This physical and dynamic role will require good attention to detail, strong practical skills, and an eagerness to coordinate and work with volunteers. 

Duties will include: 

  • Facilitating twice weekly farm volunteer sessions to inoculate mushroom blocks, move bags, and process mushrooms.

  • Harvesting Mushrooms and prepping deliveries

  • Working with other staff members to troubleshoot, repair and maintain farm equipment and infrastructure 

  • Producing spawn in our lab and keeping track of our cultures. 

  • Procuring and taking responsibility for the management of substrates. 

  • Deliveries to shops and restaurants

  • Logging and managing data about harvests, inoculations, substrate deliveries. 

  • Participating in weekly staff meetings.

  • Playing a role in cooperative admin, management, strategy and business development. 

Essential qualities for the role:

These qualities are crucial to this role and successful applicants will likely be able to demonstrate all of the following in previous employment or experiences:

  • Good level of fitness, ability to lift 20 kg comfortably and work on your feet most of the day. 

  • Experience of volunteer management or community engagement.

  • Experience of  and strong interest in food production .

  • Professional or extensive voluntary experience in a practical, manual job such as food growing, horticulture, gardening,  forestry or a building trade like carpentry.

  • A strong alignment with our principles and values and a desire to be a long-term member of our cooperative.

  • A track record of being able to take on projects and challenges independently.

  • Strong sense of professional self awareness and maturity about one’s own strengths and weaknesses and how these play out when working in groups. 

  • The ability and willingness to work closely with others, navigate conflict and the confidence to give and receive feedback.

  • Driving license.

  • Indefinite permission to work in the UK

Desirable qualities: 

These qualities would significantly improve your chances of getting shortlisted for interview:

  • Mycology knowledge, experience of mushroom cultivation

  • Aseptic lab skills 

  • Experience of self employment and small business administration

  • Third sector managerial experience, knowledge of safeguarding and other administrative responsibilities.

  • Grant writing experience.

  • Strong data management skills and confidence designing basic agricultural trials.

  • A background or qualification in ecology, horticulture or other related science

We are looking for a combination of people who meet all of the essential and desirable qualities - so if you’re super keen but don’t tick every box we’d still encourage you to apply. 

Joining our co-operative:

We are a non-hierarchical workers’ cooperative and we are looking for people who want to become a long-term members of our team and are committed to helping our project grow and thrive. As a core staff member you would become a co-director of the company following your six month probation. 

It’s crucial that anyone who joins our team has strong alignment with our values and understands that they are not our employee, but our equal and needs to have the drive, motivation and energy to share responsibility for the success of the project.

We set our own wages and they will increase if the project thrives. We have a pay parity policy so all staff will always be on the same hourly wage. 

Probation:

We are a small team and chemistry is everything. A wrong recruitment decision could easily destabilise us so we’ve decided to have a six month probation period for this role to ensure that the decision to work together makes sense for everyone involved. 

How to Apply:

We discourage using AI to write your cover letters. We are not looking for sterile perfection, but rather to get a sense of who *you* are and why you want to work with us.  To apply for this role please fill out this form and attach a CV and  a cover letter answering the following questions, please ensure your cover letter does not exceed 1,200 words. 

  • Why are you applying for this role at this point in your life/ career? 

  • What about this role excites you?

  • Why do you think you could succeed in this role?

  • What parts of the role do you think you’d find most challenging?

  • Please include the contact details of two potential references 

All applications will be scored against the ‘essential qualities’ needed to fulfil the role, so please refer to these as write your cover letter and CV.